Thanks. I've been trying to do something major to improve the place every year. Some years, I succeed.
In addition to a traditional furnace, I have a propane-powered fireplace in the living room that doesn't rely on electric ignition at all; it throws out a decent amount of heat. I grew up in rural southern Iowa, and sometimes, we would lose power for days. When my folks remodeled the house in the late 1960's. my dad insisted on adding a wood-burning fireplace. Having mine makes me feel more secure; winters here can be real bears.
I really like your ideas and the way you think about things, including feeling good about creating from your own sources -- I used to think I was good at crafts but was clearly delusional.
My sheep are Katahdin hair sheep, so although I don't make anything with the wool they shed each year, the trees are filled with bird nests knitted together with wool they rub off onto the fencing. It's too bad I don't figure out how to use it; one of the ewes, Betsy, is a beautiful reddish color.
I have had miniature goats for about 14 years and I love them. BUT, keeping them penned is a challenge. In my experience, the fainters (I've had some fainter crosses) are the only ones who don't seem to spend the bulk of their days figuring out how to get out of whatever fencing I've come up with. My blue-eyed Nigerian girl is named Tessa, but Houdini would have been a more appropriate name. She can get out through the smallest opening, can lift a woven wire fence and easily climbs onto the trunk of a fence-row tree to leap into the neighbor's field.
My dad owned an auto body shop that had an accompanying junk yard. We always kept Suffolk sheep to eat down the weeds around the junk so he never had to mow. I can't remember any of them ever escaping. If you get the Harlequin mini-sheep, please post photos.
Hey, I don't just feed mulberries to my birds; I also chop down the numerous saplings that spring up and feed them to the sheep and goats, who love to nibble any trees they can reach.
Today on PBS, an old episode of "Great British Baking Show" had a segment on Tottenham Cake, created in the 1800s by a Quaker baker. Although most people substitute different fruit these days for the icing, originally mulberry juice was used. So maybe I can convince myself to like them if I think about connecting with my Quaker ancestors and whip up some pink icing (funny it's pink. When birds poop out mulberries all over EVERYTHING, it's purple!).
I know I liked the berries as as a kid. I still remember my mom yelling at me and my friend, Toni, because we had climbed one of the mulberry trees out back, got juice all over and ruined our school dresses. Maybe my adult dislike is just me remembering how pretty that little aqua dress had been?
Good luck with everything you are doing. I would like to keep up with your progress.
And,
@Fishychix, keep on with your daydreams. I also have a rain barrel; it's been sitting unattached to my gutters for more than two years now. But, some day!!!
, but still it would be more sustainable. We packed up our fig trees roots this past year with straw and burlap and they came back! They'd always died before.
